


Hallowed be Thy Name

by MercurySkies



Series: Kingdom Come [3]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-10 09:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4385852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercurySkies/pseuds/MercurySkies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s a sign of respect.” Arthur replies softly. He skim reads the letter apparently from an elderly lady called Gladys who’s goat Juniper he suspects, is just pregnant and not enchanted as she suggests. “Like when they call me Sire.”<br/>“I hardly ever call you Sire.”<br/>“That’s because you hardly ever show me any respect.”</p><p>Arthur's plans for a midday rendezvous with Merlin get waylaid by burning hay stacks and children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hallowed be Thy Name

Simplicity is not something Merlin is well acquainted with. Even in the more meagre days of servanthood where all that was asked of him was to scrub floors and polish armour his life was a complicated mixture of keeping up appearances and ensuring Arthur didn’t get himself killed or seriously maimed. The events of one night had changed everything and Merlin felt closer to the exalted figure of Emrys than he’d ever thought himself to be.

Now the walls of the castle and the rooms within feel hallowed, sacred, the physical reminder of what he has sworn to protect. He is no longer at Arthur's beck and call and it is strange not hearing Arthur call his name from the floor above or sometimes if he was exceptionally angry, the other side of the castle entirely. He spends his time working, barely seeing Arthur but for when he's required to sit beside him at the round table. The back and forth makes him dizzy and tired, magic weighing down his bones as he feeds his energy into Camelot's defenses, its farmland, trying to do his part.

Exhaustion weighs on him, heavy and confusing. He is fuelled by the sense of duty he has always held and the ever present buzz of magic beneath his skin. He’s clattering around his study, muttering to himself as he rifles through piles of correspondents and potions and amulets, books and poultices, when Arthur knocks and enters. Merlin doesn’t even notice him until a shadow crosses the page he’s reading. He looks up and sees him, his hip resting against the edge of his desk. “Long time no see... Master Emrys.” He drawls, neck craning to read the letter in Merlin’s hands. “Don’t,” Merlin chuckles exasperatedly, wiping a hand over his face, “I tell them every time but they insist.”

“It’s a sign of respect.” Arthur replies softly. He skim reads the letter apparently from an elderly lady called Gladys who’s goat Juniper he suspects, is just pregnant and not enchanted as she suggests. “Like when they call me Sire.”

“I hardly ever call you Sire.”

“That’s because you hardly ever show me any respect.”

Merlin grins, tired eyes squishing into crescent moons with the force of it. Arthur feels something warm blossom in his chest, something about Merlin is so bright he has to look away as if staring at him is like looking straight at the sun.

“I was wondering if you’d join me for lunch out in the woods today?” Arthur asks, arms folded and eyes trained on the desk. “I don’t know,” Merlin frowns “I have so much to do-”

“Well if you don’t want to that’s fine.” Arthur replies standing up, shuffling slowly toward the door. “I just thought- well we haven’t talked much since and..”

“Wait is this - is it a thing? Like are you asking to - to court me?”

“I thought we were? Did you not want-”

“No wait, wait!” Merlin says, standing abruptly and taking Arthur’s hand in his. “Ask me again?” Arthur sighs, agitated that he has to make it all quite so obvious, but in spite of himself squeezes Merlin’s hand. “Merlin will you, join me for a romantic” Arthur mutters the word with a hint of disdain “lunch in the woods?”

“Of course” Merlin whispers around his grin, clearly delighting in Arthur’s discomfort. “Lead the way, _Sire_.”

* * *

 

They make it as far as the courtyard. Merlin rushes over to a cart of dry hay on fire and douses the flames with a flick of his wrist. There’s a small boy wailing pitifully as his mother stands by, caught somewhere between despair and worry. “Oh Nathaniel,” Merlin says sadly as he kneels in front of the sniffling boy “again?”

“This has happened before?” Arthur asks concerned as he appears at Merlin’s shoulder “Are you okay ma’am?” The boy’s mother just nods, seemingly at a loss.

“I’m sorry! It just happened!” Nathaniel sobs. Arthur’s heart aches at the look of concern and understanding in Merlin’s eyes.

“Please Merlin, can you take him? Just for a couple of hours. I need to get to market but-” The boy’s mother pleads, looking close to tears herself.

“Of course.” Merlin says without a moment's hesitation only briefly looking to Arthur for reassurance. Arthur nods, only distantly annoyed that they’ll no longer be alone. Something about seeing the way Merlin brushes a tender hand through the young boy’s hair and dries his tears with the cuff of his own tunic stops every snide protest he may have had dancing on the tip of his tongue.

Merlin mouths an apology at him as Nathaniel grabs for his hand and Arthur can’t find it in himself to be resentful and is a little appalled as a consequence. He tries to make small talk with the little sniffling boy but Merlin shakes his head with a sad smile. “He doesn’t like to talk.” Merlin says “He only started talking to me last week. He and his mother only arrived in Camelot little less than a month ago. The rest of the village didn’t take too kindly to the emergence of his magic.” Arthur marvels at the fact that there’s no bitterness in Merlin’s voice despite having come from similar beginnings before finding a life for himself in Camelot. He only hears sadness and despondency that even though magic has been legal for quite some time some children still have to endure what Merlin did.

“It’s not right.” Arthur says, hand lightly touching the hilt of his sword as he always does when something troubles him, as if the blade could fend off such problems as it does his enemies when in battle. “Magic is legal now and-”

“And laws change but sometimes attitudes do not.” Merlin replies, looking much too wise and just a little weary. “We’re finally free to be who we are, in the eyes of the law. In the eyes of the people, well, years of scaremongering and misinformation takes a while to undo. A lot of damage has been done.” He smiles at Gwen as she walks past, arms laden with baskets of fresh daisies. She hands him one with a wink and carries on her way, no doubt on her way to her own lunchtime rendezvous with Lancelot. “But now is not the time to discuss such things.” He says haltingly changing the topic to what they have to eat and engaging Nathaniel into a whispered conversation about all his favourite foods.

Merlin is loudly waxing poetic about strawberries as they enter the main square and Arthur is seriously starting to resent the presence of their small companion as Merlin’s indepth description of his love of the fruit insights way too many thoughts about licking the juice from Merlin’s lips. Arthur is ripped away from further sordid thoughts by a high pitched screech. “MERLY!” A high pitched voice bellows and before he can even blink Merlin has his arms full of what appears to be a small bundle of curly red hair. “Oh hi Nat! Watcha doin’? Is it time for lesson?” The little girl talks a mile a minute bouncing where Merlin holds her resting on his hip.

“Lesson?” Arthur asks confused “ _Merly?_ ” Merlin ducks his head in embarrassment.

“Gosh!” The little girl exclaims and then covers her mouth as if suddenly she’s only just realised she’s shouting and then continues on in a voice not much quieter “Is that- is that the King Merly?” Merlin nods, coughing a little to regain composure.

“I um- sometimes I take some of the children with magic out of the city for lessons, trying to teach them how to utilise all that energy.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Arthur says quietly, stepping closer. He can hear the little girl asking why he smells so nice and if he can hold her instead. Wordlessly he reaches out to her and he has an armful of exuberant three year old. “I didn’t want to bother you with it. We’re both so busy nowadays” He says as he kneels in front of Nathaniel, needlessly adjusting the fidgeting boy’s collar just to avoid Arthur’s gaze. “No Arabella, no lessons today, where’s your mother?”

“She’s over there” She says pointing in the general direction of the fabric stall to Arthur’s left. “Where going? Can I come?” She directs these questions to Arthur, levelling him with a gaze that’s familiar to him from his childhood with Morgana so naturally he can’t say no. “Lunch,” He says lamely “and only if your mother says it’s okay.” He tries with a little more authority.

Arabella doesn't bother leaving Arthur’s arms to ask her mother if she can accompany them and soon Merlin and Arthur are surrounded by a small crowd of Merlin’s ‘students’ and their respective parents. Before he knows it they’re being accompanied by a small gaggle of children, some older than others, as they all make their way out of the citadel. Arthur is bombarded with questions, apparently Merlin’s students are just as impertinent as their teacher can be and he shoots him equally amused and anxious glances as they settle in the grass amongst tall oak trees.

The children automatically sit in a semicircle, looking expectantly at both Merlin and Arthur. Merlin sighs heavily “I thought I said there weren't any lessons today.” He shows the first sign of annoyance at their midday rendezvous having been interrupted by the rambunctious rabble of magical children. “Maybe a little something?” Arthur asks, resolve considerably weaker than Merlin’s is, a dozen sullen and pleading pairs of eyes fixed on them both imploringly. Merlin sighs again but unfastens his cloak and rolls up his sleeves.

“Who likes flowers?” He asks with a clap of his hands and a grin.

* * *

 

Twenty minutes later and Arthur is watching enraptured as Merlin speaks some quiet nonsense about feeling the earth and sensing all the life it bares, the energy, the ebb and flow blah blah blah. He’s not listening awfully attentively to his words but he’s hyper aware of the way they leave his mouth, soft and awed and quiet in the dense hush of the surrounding trees. He’s the only one with his eyes open, watching intently as Merlin and the children all have their eyes closed and hands pressed to the soil. He watches as one by one their faces light up, feeling whatever Merlin has been describing. Merlin looks truly relaxed for the first time in weeks. He catches the moment when his eyes flutter open, thick lashes framing the serene gold in his irises. His smile grows at the looks of delight on the children’s faces. He winks at Arthur before closing his eyes and returning his focus to the ground.

“Okay so now, picture your favourite flower, push your energy into the earth and say the incantation as we've been practising.” Merlin demonstrates, muttering the incantation under his breath and calling forth the red roses Arthur has come to view as Merlin’s equivalent of a sigil. The class collectively turn to their work, stilted mutterings of the same incantation whisper around the semicircle and slowly, one by one, small patches of flowers start to grow and blossom in front of their very eyes. Merlin laughs, loud and bright and the children chitter excitedly, congratulating themselves, giggling and marvelling at their creations. Arthur has never been hit so hard by the beauty of magic nor has he ever felt his lack of it so hugely. As if sensing this Merlin shuffles and settles beside him, taking his hands in his and pressing them to the ground. “Close your eyes and _feel_ ” He whispers. After a few moments he can feel it, a pleasant hum beneath his fingertips, pulling back into the earth and pushing outward impossibly at the same time, it's strong and tingling, branching out for miles and miles. It pulses with bright spots, can feel the life in the children opposite him can feel the life in Merlin, the life within himself. He starts to find it hard to breathe and almost stops completely when he hears Merlin mutter low and hoarse, lips brushing against his ear. When he blinks his eyes open it’s to more awed gasps. The slight tinge of gold fades from his pale blue eyes and he glances down to see his own ring of white carnations scattered among Merlin’s roses.

“You’re such a girl, _Merly_.” Arthur says, trying to disguise his own awe with derision. They've finally lost the attention of the children, although Nathaniel’s daisies seem to be setting themselves on fire everytime he plucks one from the ground. He looks as though if he doesn't manage to complete a daisy chain soon he might cry. “I didn’t make them.” Merlin says innocently, moving away from him to help a teary looking Nathaniel “there’s more magic in you than you know.” He says as he walks away, smile sweeter, softer, happier than Arthur has ever seen it.


End file.
